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From The Mind Of Adi #45: Graham Williams’ Firsts
Firsts: Sh*te that happened before other sh*te happened.
Today: Graham Williams’ Firsts! This time, we examine what inspired Transmission Entertainment founder Graham Williams.
- 1st favorite song: I think it was "A Day In The Life" by The Beatles.
- 1st favorite musician or band: Definitely Michael Jackson. I'd breakdance to his records...somehow.
- 1st vinyl purchased: Either ACDC - For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) or The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard In My Backyard, can't remember which was 1st.
- 1st album recorded on a cassette tape: Pink Floyd - The wall...my dad even drew the cover on the tape so it looked like a real tape. My folks were cheap, but looking back that was pretty sweet of him.
- 1st cassette tape purchased: Run DMC - Raising Hell
- 1st concert attended: Other than some hippy stuff with my parents that I don't remember, it was Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls tour at (Frank) Erwin Center (oddly on Red River St.).
- 1st CD purchased: Shelter - Quest For Certainty or the Bold/Youth Of Today Split CD on Revelation Records, can't remember which was 1st.
- 1st album downloaded: Not sure...I remember testing my friend’s theory that you could find anything on Soulseek with "there is no way the Downcast 7" will be on this site".....sho nuff, it was. So probably that, a few years ago.
- 1st gig or band booked: Well, I was in a terrible sXe HC band in high school called Direction, so I booked many shows for us with locals, touring bands and others at clubs, VFW halls, garages, whatever...iIm sure my first show I booked was one of those. I know the 1st show we played, I was a freshman in high school and it was at Liberty Lunch and we opened for Glass Eye. It was their last show. We were sooo bad, but tons of our friends showed up so it was a big show. We did a couple of terrible covers (good songs, poorly done)...a Slapshot song and a Sick Of It All song...maybe a Minor Threat song too actually. Then all our songs...we probably did about 8-10 total… like 6 of our own and 3 covers. We flyer’d the whole town I remember. Hit the drag, high school, and every show with flyers of a fist with an X on it and a small picture of someone stage diving at an SSD show. We didn't even put the headliner! Just us, when and where....there is a video of that show. Tough to watch.
- 1st personal band: Direction -- the band above. Me on guitar, Mike Ward singer (he's a landscaper for San Jose Hotel now, I think), Brian Deckle other singer...(yes 2 singers, like I said we were dumb...he's in a band called Condemned Unit now I believe), Cody Cowan on bass (he bartended at Emo’s forever and now bartends at The Mohawk), Aaron Ryan on guitar (he's a graphics designer now) and the drummer was Tyrone (he's a bike messenger now down on Congress Ave.). Like I said, we weren't very good, but it was a lot of fun. I mean, most people can't look back on high school and say "yeah I did one US tour, had our bands music released as a 7" and a split 8", put on dozens of show, etc"....big part of my young life.
- 1st "something" I didn't ask you about: Hmmmm....I guess 1st memory I have is being 2 or so (I could barely talk or walk) and I would stand up and waddle to my dad’s stereo and play with the knobs and he'd get mad at me. I guess I always liked music or something...or hated it and that is why I was messing up his stereo.
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Past Firsts:
- Adi’s Firsts
- James Petralli’s (White Denim) Firsts
- Chris Rose’s (Car Stereo (Wars)) Firsts
- JP’s (Built By Snow) Firsts
- Lauren Larson’s (Ume) Firsts
- John Farmer’s (What Made Milwaukee Famous) Firsts
- Martín Perna’s (Ocote Soul Sounds) Firsts
- Adrian Quesada’s (Grupo Fantasma, Brownout!, Ocote Soul Sounds) Firsts
- Marcos Cabral and Jacques Renault’s (Runaway) Firsts
- Ben and Jeff Brown’s (No Show Ponies) Firsts
- Jeramy Neugent’s (Learning Secrets) Firsts
- James Moody’s (The Mohawk) Firsts
- Nancy Whang’s (LCD Soundsystem, The Juan MacLean) Firsts
- Jen Rea’s (Team Fabrication) Firsts
- Richard Henry’s Firsts
- Matt Ragland’s (Nelo) Firsts
- Shane Lawlor’s (Electric Touch) Firsts